Glossary
A guide to acronyms (and abbreviations), words and phrases used throughout the Environment Canterbury website. Look in the 'By Subject' tab to find groups of terms relevant to a specific topic.
Some terms might have definitions in addition to those in this glossary.
Use the online Māori Dictionary to help with translating words between Te Reo Māori/English.
- Sand bar
- a long, narrow bank of sand usually at a river mouth
- Siltation
- the pollution of water by earthy matter and fine sand being carried by moving or running water and deposited as a sediment. It can cause waterways to become murky, disrupting aquatic life.
- Soil
- means the loose material on the earth’s surface in which terrestrial plants grow and includes sand, silts, clays and any intermixed organic material.
- Soil conservation
- avoiding, remedying, or mitigating soil erosion and maintaining the physical, chemical and biological qualities of the soil.
- Stormwater
- when rainwater falls onto a hard, sealed, impermeable surface (such as roofs, roads, and driveways), it cannot soak into the ground. Instead, it runs off the surface. This runoff is called stormwater.
- Strong earthquake
- an earthquake where the shaking is so strong that it is hard to stand up—the sort of earthquake where furniture starts moving around and things fall over.
- Surface water or surface water body
- means water above the ground surface and within a lake, river, artificial watercourse or wetland, but does not include water in the sea, snow or rain or water vapour in the air.
- Swale
- means a shallow depression on the land surface, that is covered in grass or other vegetation, that is natural or man-made and that serves to collect and drain overland stormwater runoff.
- Swimming season
- November to March.
- Swimming water quality grades
- each bathing site is given an overall suitability for recreation grade at the start of each summer. These grades do not change over the swimming season and should be used to determine whether a particular site is suitable for swimming. Sites graded as: Very good, good and fair are considered suitable for contact recreation, however there may be exceptions during certain times (eg after heavy rainfall); Poor and very poor are generally considered unsuitable for contact recreation. Swimming water quality grades do not consider risks from the presence of potentially toxic cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria warnings override the usual water quality grades for swimming.
- Swing moorings
- are generally concrete blocks positioned on the sea bed with a series of chains attached to a buoy which floats on the water. The top chain or rope is attached to the vessel. Currents, wind and weather conditions affect the way vessels ‘swing’ around their mooring blocks.
- s
- second
- s
- section
- S
- South
- SAG
- Statutory Agencies Group
- SBN
- Sustainable Business Network
- SC
- South Canterbury
- SDC
- Selwyn District Council
- SDS
- Safety Data Sheet
- SE
- South-East
- sec
- second
- Sep
- September
- Sept
- September
- SFRG
- Suitability For Recreation Grade
- SF₆
- Sulfur Hexafluoride
- SG
- Shellfish Gathering
- SH
- State Highway
- SIA
- Social Impact Assessment
- SIDDC
- South Island Dairy Development Centre
- SIDE
- South Island Dairy Event
- SMF
- Sustainable Management Fund
- SMS
- Safety Management System
- Soc
- Society
- SODR
- Summary of Decisions Requested
- SOLGM
- Society of Local Government Managers
- SO₂
- Sulfur Dioxide
- SO₄
- Sulfate
- SPBL
- Selwyn Plantation Board Limited
- SPD
- Station Peak Dairies Limited
- SPI
- Submerged Plant Indicator
- Sq
- Square
- sqm
- square metre(s)
- SSW
- South-southwest
- SSWI
- Sites of Special Wildlife Interest
- St
- Saint
- St
- Street
- Std dev
- Standard deviation
- Sth
- South
- STMS
- Site Traffic Management Supervisor
- Strm
- Stream
- su
- stock units
- SW
- South-West
- SW
- Stormwater
- SW
- Surface Water
- SWH
- Significant Wave Height
Environment Canterbury © 2023
Retrieved: 6:06am, Sat 02 Dec 2023
https://www.ecan.govt.nz/info/glossary/